Cain losing support, “reassessing” his campaign

Herman Cain’s right flank is crumbling after an Atlanta woman went on TV Monday to allege that she had a 13-year affair with the Republican hopeful that ended just before he announced for president.

Cain reportedly told advisers Tuesday morning that he is “reassessing” his campaign, first reported by the conservative National Review.

“We have to do an assessment as to whether or not this is going to create too much of a cloud, in some people’s minds, as to whether or not they would be able to support us going forth,” Cain said in the conference call.

The claim of an affair by Ginger White — denied in advance by Cain — is “the most damaging allegation that has been made to date,” ex-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee told Fox News. Several senior activists from Huckabee’s 2008 Iowa caucus victory have been involved with the Cain campaign.

Cain is one of six Republican hopefuls who have, during 2011, surged as Republican conservatives” “anybody but Romney” alternative. The former Godfather’s Pizza boss, and radio talk show host, has deep ties to the Tea Party movement.

Cain started surging in October after then-frontrunner Texas Gov. Rick Perry delivered sub-par performances in debates between the Republican candidates. Cain gained as Perry’s support in polls fell from the 30-percent level down into the single digits.

At that point, however, the Politico web site broke news that the National Restaurant Association paid five-figure settlements to two women who complained of sexual harassment while Cain headed the association in the late 1990’s.

Cain has denied any impropriety, declaring “I don’t even know the woman” when one accuser came public.

Cain’s attorney, Lin Wood, fed the latest fires with an ambiguous statement that “private alleged consensual conduct between adults” is “a subject matter which is not a proper subject of inquiry by the media or the public.”

The college went through a sex scandal of its own a decade ago, when the daughter-in-law of its longtime president George Roche III shot herself to death. Roche’s son discovered there had been a longtime affair between his wife and his father.